Monthly Archives: October 2014

“The whole people must take upon themselves the education of the whole people and be willing to bear the expenses of it. There should not be a district of one mile square, without a school in it, not founded by a charitable individual, but maintained at the public expense of the people themselves.”

— John Adams, U.S. President, 1785 (The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: With a Life of the Author, Notes and Illustrations, Volume 9, by John Adams, Little, Brown, 1854, pg 540) as quoted at Wikipedia.

Adams was right. He wasn’t president when he said it, but he was so right that outside of the great minds of physics and mathematics, this may have been the rightest statement ever uttered. We should be making sure our children are well-educated, kept up to date on the latest developments in history, social studies, mathematics, and the sciences. That education should include Art and Music, and, yes, Health and Physical Education.

I really have no words to describe how wretched that threat is. I am as speechless as I was when I first learned what Susan Smith did to her kids. I am as speechless as I was when I learned my mother’s cancer diagnosis.

In the past, I most likely would not have posted anything about this anywhere — because, wordless. By the time I had words, others would have said what I wanted to say even better than I could have. But even though she will most likely never read this, and I am not a great player of video games (fumble thumbs), I stand with Anita Sarkeesian. And Zoe Quinn. And Brianna Wu. No one deserves to be put through what they are going through.

I really don’t understand why it is so difficult to understand consent. If someone doesn’t say, “Yes,” then you don’t have the right to violate their bodily autonomy. How difficult is that to understand?